S.Korea's top nuke envoy to visit Russia next week

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South Korea's top nuclear envoy will make a three-day visit to Russia next week for talks on how to resume the long-stalled six-party talks, Seoul's foreign ministry said Friday.

Hwang Joon-kook, Seoul's chief negotiator for the six-way dialogue aimed at dismantling the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s nuclear program, will leave for Moscow Monday to meet with his Russian counterpart Igor Margulov, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It will be Hwang's first visit to Russia since he was appointed as chief negotiator for the disarmament-for-aid talks in early April. The dialogue, including the two Koreas, China, the United States, Russia and Japan, has been halted since late 2008.

The two senior diplomats will make a comprehensive discussion on the DPRK's nuclear program and situations on the Korean Peninsula, the ministry said.

Hwang recently held a series of dialogue with his U.S. counterpart Glyn Davies on June 2 and with Wu Dawei, top nuclear negotiator of China, on June 10.

The DPRK has expressed its willingness to return to the dialogue table "without preconditions," but South Korea and the United States have called for Pyongyang to demonstrate its sincerity toward denuclearization.

The DPRK has warned that it will conduct a "new form" of nuclear test. The latest test was carried out in February last year.